Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jan 25, 2013 2:35 pm Well after finding out about H1 and spending a long time looking through all the threads I thought it was about time I start a thread of my own, especially because the Queenslanders on here are few and far between. We settled on our block of land up here in Cairns in December last year and have been spending a fair amount of time looking at different builders and looking for a home that will suit our family of 5. We decided on Austart homes due to the look, quality and finish of the homes and the high quality customer service. We have got our pre approval for the build now and are waiting for the plans and contract to be drafted, this should be done by early next week. Re: Cairns build - Austart Homes 2Jan 25, 2013 2:38 pm Re: Cairns build - Austart Homes 3Jan 25, 2013 4:31 pm congratulations! block looks fab we had a homeone gathering in cairns oct 2011, it was fantastic but SOOOO hot. we went to karunda, reef, tablelands and port douglas, and had great cocktails near the kids play pools in town. on that pokey out land bit, by the marina. I know...dont ask me to give directions!! anyway, good luck and hope it all goes well for you. Re: Cairns build - Austart Homes 4Jan 25, 2013 4:36 pm great block cairns is so lovely and your plan looks fantastic Re: Cairns build - Austart Homes 5Jan 25, 2013 8:03 pm Love your block, you will have beautiful views from your new home. A great size too. The plan looks great We built the Wisdom Majestic 40 - moved in! Our blog - http://ourwisdommajestic40.blogspot.com.au/ Our H1 thread - viewtopic.php?t=54156 Re: Cairns build - Austart Homes 6Jan 25, 2013 8:17 pm Thanks for the comments, Kiwi I was aware of the H1 get together as I have been lurking around everyone's threads for awhile now, you all have such fantastic homes, really helps allot to have the info you have all provided at the tip of my fingertips It is a little warm up here now that Ex TC Oswald has moved South. The block is a bit of an odd shape, where the block tapers to its narrowest (about 12m) we are going to put in a pool. The bank are going to have a good house once this is all finished Re: Cairns build - Austart Homes 7Jan 25, 2013 8:42 pm WOW! What a beautiful block!! It is 4 times the size of mine lol. Beautiful surrounds and what a glorious view! Love the layout of your home too, that is something similar to what I would love next time. Congratulations and all the best for a quick and easy build. Cheers Sam Our first home... viewtopic.php?f=31&t=60460 Land Dep paid 26/2/12 Site cleared7/12/12 Slab 20/12/12 Frame 25/1/13 Bricks 19/2/13 Re: Cairns build - Austart Homes 8Jan 25, 2013 8:47 pm Lovely block, would love to have those views! Settlement: 10.02.13 Slab: 06.03.13 Frame: 08.03.13 Lock-up: 05.04.13 Handover: 03.06.13 Build thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=59555 Brisbane Photography Re: Cairns build - Austart Homes 9Jan 26, 2013 6:59 am MACCATTACK Thanks for the comments, Kiwi I was aware of the H1 get together as I have been lurking around You weren't the guy with those binoculars watching us at the Turkish restaurant on the main drag were you!??? Re: Cairns build - Austart Homes 10Jan 26, 2013 9:20 am kiwi You weren't the guy with those binoculars watching us at the Turkish restaurant on the main drag were you!??? Haha no I have a day job and rock spider it is not Re: Cairns build - Austart Homes 11Jan 26, 2013 2:02 pm Congrats, I finished building on the northen beaches with Austart a few months back, was very happy overall with the build. Will be following your build with interest, was a big fan of that design. Re: Cairns build - Austart Homes 12Jan 26, 2013 5:42 pm tr0pp0 Congrats, I finished building on the northen beaches with Austart a few months back, was very happy overall with the build. Will be following your build with interest, was a big fan of that design. Thats really great to hear, there is not allot of reviews of builds etc up here so any info you can pass on will be great positive or negative. Did you take allot of photos? Re: Cairns build - Austart Homes 13Jan 26, 2013 6:10 pm Thousands, went to the site everyday to check things and take photos, this helped a lot in getting things right the first time.The photos, of the frame especially, have helped with things like doing extra electrical and hanging pictures afterwards, plus it's good to look back on how the house went up. Re: Cairns build - Austart Homes 14Jan 26, 2013 6:12 pm tr0pp0 Thousands, went to the site everyday to check things and take photos, this helped a lot in getting things right the first time.The photos, of the frame especially, have helped with things like doing extra electrical and hanging pictures afterwards, plus it's good to look back on how the house went up. Nice did you have any issues? Hope you don't mind if I pick your brain from time to time. Re: Cairns build - Austart Homes 16Jan 28, 2013 5:58 pm Yeah true, we are hoping to avoid any changes, especially now the plans are in getting drafted. We found out about the Cairns Hill slopes restrictions about a week ago, means we cant have any light colours for roof or render, all about keeping the area attractive for the tourists, which I understand I guess, kind of a big deal up here. Not to sure how they get around the whole sustainability thing though. Find out in a few days if we will need a water tank, government have said its not required anymore but final decision rests with local council. Re: Cairns build - Austart Homes 17Feb 07, 2013 9:23 pm Well a bit of an update we got our preliminary plans to check and edit as required. After adding a few more things (which means a few more dollars) the plans are back with the builders. Now back to the waiting game. Re: Cairns build - Austart Homes 18Feb 08, 2013 4:31 am Did you check everything?? Window heights, widths, vanity widths, manhole placement etc Re: Cairns build - Austart Homes 19Feb 08, 2013 5:59 pm Sure did, had to change a few things though; -the vanity widths as they were marked as 500 wide where we wanted 300 wide and floating, -electrical point placement in a few areas needed moving, -added a few more power points, -added the 3 x external power points that are needed for the pool, -added external lights for the front of the house, -had to change kitchen layout as they had an under bench oven on the plans not the free standing gas oven we requested. But everything else looked correct. Getting contract and plans this Sunday. Hope all looks good. Thank you so much everyone. This all makes a lot of sense. I guess when you talk to a builder who butters up everything to look very polished, you get to start believing… 7 17591 3 48370 Ask for references and speak to them. If they are defensive or try to avoid the request, walk. 1 74701 |